


do better, together

by lismicro



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Everyone Is Alive, F/F, Fluff, Friendship, Mass Effect 3: Citadel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-19
Updated: 2015-09-19
Packaged: 2018-04-21 12:42:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4829555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lismicro/pseuds/lismicro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Shepard finds herself with more feelings than she knows what to do with about one Specialist Traynor, she panics. Her crewmates are determined to help. Kaidan has alcohol, John is the proudest twin in the galaxy, and Tali just wants cake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	do better, together

**Author's Note:**

> A retelling of the morning following “game night,” where the Citadel DLC has already taken place. I loved the idea of a grumpy renegade Shepard who has loved exactly no people in her life being thrown off by Traynor the first time she stays over. Everyone is alive because happy, canon-breaking endings are the best. Thanks for reading!

Charlie Shepard flips onto her stomach and groans.

There is a bird outside that’s about to be brained once Charlie gets her hands on it, because it is too damn early for this shit and she needs to stop trusting Vega’s “special juice” before it kills her one day. The calming darkness and warm sheets aren’t helping the exhaustion that weighs down on her every time she blinks. She’s just going to close her eyes again, remake her blanket burrito, and cuddle back up next to –

And then Charlie’s eyes snap open. That is not a bird. That is her fishtank’s weekly reminder that she needs to change the filter, and that is a naked Communications Specialist Samantha Traynor she is spooning, breathing gently against the skin of her collarbone and generally being the most attractive thing that’s ever been in Charlie Shepard’s bed. In anyone’s bed.

Years of training instinctively indicate that this, right here, is the time for stealth. Charlie slides carefully out from under the sheets, shivering in the sudden cold now that Sam’s skin isn’t touching hers, and casts one regretful look behind her before grabbing her clothes and slipping into the bathroom.

Oh, damn.

She splashes water on her face. Flushes the toilet and washes her hands and brushes her teeth. But cold water and personal hygiene can only do so much, and as Charlie finishes washing up and steps outside to once again see Sam sprawled out on the bed, the mild panic begins to rise again in her throat.

Oh no. She slept with Sam last night. And as amazing as it was, she can’t remember the last time a fling had stayed past dawn, and none of them had mattered a fraction as much as the woman in her bed right now. What is hell is she going to do?

On any other morning, she’d be fine with it. Commander Charlotte Shepard, three years out from her last relationship and patently disinterested in anything like it ever again, is _not_ pathetic. She’s a soldier to her bones and romance has no place in the kind of life she leads. There’s a war on, people- kill Reapers now, worry about Shepard’s love life later.

But then Sam appeared. Sam, who just sighed in her sleep like the princesses of legend. Sam, who deserves so much more than that. More than her excuses, and more than Shepard’s been able to give before.

Oh God, she needs help. Charlie checks the time. Liara’s already gone, getting ready for a super-secret asari meeting with Samara and Aethyta- there’s no way Charlie’s getting in the middle of that matriarchal shit-show. Liara must be about to burst a vein, she surely can’t help right now.

Charlie groans and rests her head with a thud against the elevator door.

And besides, Liara may be over a century old but she’s got barely more experience than Charlie herself, and definitely not with humans. Everyone else on her crew is out on shore leave.

Fuck, she needs to find someone, and soon. Sam gets up early and it’s almost five.

“EDI!” She whispers loudly, as she rides the elevator down to the CIC.

“Yes, Commander?” EDI whispers back. As much as an unshackled AI with industrial grade audio speakers can, anyway. Mostly it just sounds like a buzz.

“Keep an eye on Sam for me, okay? I’m leaving, but let me know if she wakes up.”

“Yes, Commander. Would you like reports of Specialist Traynor’s breathing and heartrate? They are biological indicators of wakefulness, though they cannot truly predict shifts in consciousness.”

“No-no, just let me know if she’s trying to leave my cabin. And EDI- not a word. To anyone.”

“Commander, you have entrusted me with information in confidence.  I would never violate that trust.”

“Good. Just so we’re clear.”

“Commander?”

Charlie growls in frustration and turns around, glaring. It’s sort of pointless- EDI doesn’t really have a face she can actually look at. So she glares at the wall and hope the AI gets the hint.

“What?”

“In most cultures, it is considered unwise to leave a romantic partner alone after intercourse. Such actions are usually reserved for regretful or single-occasion sexual encounters or ‘one night stands’, as you humans call them. I fear for the emotional state of Specialist Traynor if you are not present when she wakes up.”

Oh, God.

“EDI, I’m not leaving her because I’m embarrassed about her, okay? I just need to go for a walk, clear my head.” _Find my non-AI crew and get them to help me._

“If you recall, Commander, I received very practical advice from you when I attempted to gift you a ring from our last shore leave. If it is confidence you require, this memory should reassure you that you are very capable of romantic consideration. You are also responsible for the romantic interactions I have had with Jeff so far. I doubt anyone completely hopeless could have accomplished that, Commander.”

“Um. Well, thanks, EDI.”

“You are welcome.”

Charlie steps off the Normandy and fires up her omni-tool.

 

* * *

 

C-Sec was very willing to give her camera access after she saved the Council’s asses several dozen times in the past two years. Within five minutes, Charlie has located the person she wants. She enters the hotel Kaidan checked into the previous evening, and uses Spectre authority to find his room number and get a copy of the room key.

Whatever, she’s his commander. She has privileges.

She makes her way to the elevator, gets off at the correct floor, and quickly finds Kaidan’s room. The door opens and Charlie barges inside.

“Kaidan!”

The lump in the bed she assumes is Kaidan screeches and throws himself back under the covers. There is movement and then a shaggy head of hair emerges.

“Tell me I’m not making a mistake!”

“What?” Kaidan blinks a few times. “What the- Oh my God, it is five in the morning and you are in my hotel room and I’m not wearing clothes-“

“Just tell me!”

“Tell you what? How did you even get in here? I have no idea what you’re talking about!”

“Traynor!”

Kaidan’s brow scrunches in confusion.

“Is she okay?”

“Yes, she’s fine. She’s sleeping in my cabin, in my bed, and I don’t know what to do.” Charlie hisses.

“Wait, Traynor? Communications specialist, Traynor?” Kaidan sticks his hands above the blanket to rub at his eyes. When Charlie nods frantically, feeling like her head might come off with the pressure, Kaidan gets a proud-father look his face, like she isn’t years older and several ranks higher than he is. Cheerful bastard. “Well done, Shepard. How’d you pull that one off?”

“Of course you’re no help.” Charlie grumbles, starts pacing around the room and almost falls over the real-wood guitar near the dresser. Of course- _of course_ Kaidan would have one of those. Where did he even find one on the Citadel? “When we get back on the Normandy, I swear-“

“No, no- stay. Just let me get dressed first.” She turns her back, and Kaidan wriggles into pants underneath the covers.

“Okay, I’m decent.” She turns back around. “What happened?”

“I kissed her. She kissed me. There was mutual kissing. And then we-”

Kaidan holds up a hand, turning away with a wince.

“What?”

“If this is going where I think it’s going, I really don’t need the details.”

“You realize you’re dating my brother.”

“And he would _definitely_ not want the details.”

“I didn’t bring her up to my cabin to seduce her, okay? She suggested it. We played a few games of chess. Then we kissed, she said it was late, I told her she could crash in my cabin. And then she gave me this _look_ and said she wasn’t talking about sleeping-“

Charlie blinks.

“Wow. She seduced _me._ ”

Kaidan is almost going purple with how hard he’s trying to keep in his laugh. His cheeks balloon to past their usual endearing proportions.

“Yeah. Sounds like she did.”

“I didn’t- I mean, I didn’t even think twice about it, I wanted it as much as she did. Regulations against fraternization were updated only last week, the Alliance sent a notice-”

“Was it good?”

“What?”

“The kissing and …um, other stuff. Was it good?”

Charlie doesn’t even blink.

“It was amazing. Mind-blowing, even, but that doesn’t matter.”

“That’s _all_ that matters. If she made you happy, why are you freaking out about this?”

Charlie starts to reply. Then she closes her mouth, walks to the small drink dispenser in the corner and pulls out the tiniest bottle of Serrice Ice. The stopper is out and the contents are down her throat before she can reconsider.

Kaidan gives her a look that clearly says “it’s five in the morning, you lush” but lets her take it anyway, sitting down beside her and wordlessly passing her another tiny bottle. Charlie downs that one too and puts her head in her hands.

“She’s not like anyone else on the ship, Kaidan. She’s not like us. Sam doesn’t really understand why the fraternization rules are in place. People like you and me and John risk our lives on an _hourly_ basis, sometimes, whenever we step off the shuttle we never know if we’re coming back. How can I ask her to live with that? Does she even want to live with that?”

“Maybe you should ask her.” Kaidan says, and sets a hand on her shoulder. “You two won’t be the first couple to make it through wartime- it’s not impossible, not even in a Reaper war. Sam’s not the type to coddle you through any of this. If she can’t handle it, she’ll say so.”

“Will she? I’ve killed people for reasons I don’t even remember anymore. Torfan? Virmire? All those people we left because we needed to complete whatever mission we were assigned? There’s a reason I haven’t tried for a relationship with anyone before. We’ve had years to come to terms with the demands of this job. What’s she going to think when I lay all that on her in the space of one conversation?”

“You’re afraid she’ll judge you?”

“I’m afraid I’ll lose her. So...yes? If that’s the same thing?”

Kaidan breathes out, slow.

“I honestly don’t know how she’ll take it. Regardless, she’s going to see that you’re a hero, but even you can’t save everyone. You do so much good but you can’t let your mistakes define your future decisions. ‘Commander Shepard’ and ‘Major Alenko’ had to learn that lesson the hard way. But Sam doesn’t have to, if you just talk to her about it.”

Charlie chews her lip.

“And then there’s the whole Commander thing. I mean, I give her orders every day. That’s got to throw a kink in any relationship. I might have to order her to stop her work, or send her somewhere dangerous, or tell her to leave someone behind. Maybe she’s fooling herself into thinking she actually likes me. Maybe this is some fucked-up power game we’re playing.”

Kaidan scoffs.

“When have you known Sam to be someone who lets that slide? I know you haven’t known her for very long, but you don’t need to dive into all the heavy stuff right away. Trust me, Sam’s smart. You’re worried you’ll pull one over on her because of your past, but I highly doubt she’ll let you. You won’t be able to fool her, and that’s a good thing.”

“ _She’s_ a good thing.”

Kaidan grins and nods in assent.

“This isn’t something you can plan for. Trust yourself. Trust Sam. You’re good people.”

Charlie snorts a little, but smiles anyway. “Thanks.”

“No problem. You were always the more practical Shepard.”

“I’m telling my brother you said that.”

“Practical doesn’t always mean better. And besides, you do that and I’ll tell him you killed his hamster last year. Ha! You got a snappy comeback for that?”

Charlie raises an eyebrow.

“John’s name for you in his omni-tool is Koalacake.” 

Kaidan’s laugh of triumph is abruptly cut off. 

“Wait, _what_?”

She gives Kaidan’s guitar a twang as she exits.

 

* * *

 

“Ashley!”

“Commander?”

“I’m calling you because you have the most experience with successful one-night stands.”

“Um…thank you?”

“You’re welcome.” Charlie says. She looks at Ashley’s grainy face and all she can see is judgement. Goddamn it. “So now I need you to tell me everything you do on a typical night out, so I can do the exact opposite. Ready? Go.”

“Wait, is this about Specialist Traynor?”

Charlie almost chokes.

“How did you know?”

“Please, the two of you have been making eyes at each other since you knew each other’s names. Did you sleep with her? Oh God-“ Ashley’s voice, once bemused, goes full-on accusatory. “Did you sleep with her and leave her?”

“Of course not!” Charlie growls. Well, not really. “She’s still asleep, I just stepped out for a second to think, before I did something I regretted.” She swallows. “Ash, you know me. You know I don’t do relationships.”

“You haven’t tried very hard. Like, ever.”

“Not the point. But Sam makes me want to try harder and…I don’t know.” Charlie sighs. Sometimes she can’t understand how this is _easy_ for some people. “I asked Kaidan and he helped some, but I’d like some opinions across the board before I go back to the Normandy.”

Ashley is silent for a while, chewing her lip in thought.

“One day we’re going to talk about you going to Kaidan for advice before coming to me. But Charlie, why are _you_ freaking out about this?”

“I literally _just_ finished telling you.”

“No, I mean; you’re the Savior of the galaxy, collector of the Collectors, all-around ass kicker of the Reapers. You’re a badass space explorer! And Sam’s got you wound tighter than a fishing line with a twenty pound trout on the end?”

Charlie has to stop for a moment to stare incredulously out into space. A salarian gives her a funny look as he walks by.

“Wait- who says that? No one says stuff like that, Williams.”

“I do. Now stop avoiding the question.”

“Yes, I can punch a Reaper in the face, but that’s not the kind of confidence I need here. Right now this is flying blind. I don’t know what I’m doing.”

“No one does at first. But you’re better at reading a situation than anyone else- use that to your advantage even if you’re not sure you know exactly what you’re doing. I’ve seen you do it mission after mission. When’s that ever failed you before?”

_Plenty of times_ , Charlie thinks.

“Fake it till you make it?” she says instead.

“Exactly. That’s what you should do. At least, until you know her better.”

“I can’t. I can’t fake it with Sam. Whatever’s going on in my head, she listens to whatever I babble for five seconds and she just _knows_. When I’m around her I can’t prepare the exact words I want to say, I just have to say them and hope for the best. God, I’ve never been this awkward before. I’ve never been awkward, period.”

Ashley whistles.

“Wow, you’re in deep.”

“Shut up.” Charlie mumbles, and looks down at the coffee on her table. Maybe she should bring Sam one. That’s romantic, right? “Keep this up and we will no longer be friends, LT.”

Ashley rolls her eyes.

“Isn’t that your answer, though?”

“What?”

“She makes you want to be honest. If that’s not an indication that you’re going to be good to her, I don’t know what is.”

“Honesty’s enough?”

Ashley snorts.

“Hell no, but it has to be the start. Just be yourself and come clean about whatever you’re doing or thinking or feeling. You might be Commander Shepard but she needs to see you as Charlotte, her girlfriend or partner or whatever. None of the bottling-up thing you do all the time. Tell it to her straight.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Does this mean we’re friends again?”

Charlie thinks it over. “Maybe. You’re on probation.”

“I can work with that. See you later, ma’am.”

* * *

 

Charlie finds herself in the holding bay next, watching the ships come and go. The Citadel never sleeps, but it’s more peaceful in the early morning, when there’s just the quiet drone of engines to disturb the peace.

Garrus picks up on the first ring. Just audio.

“What’s your crisis?”

“How do you know it’s _my_ crisis?”

“Because I don’t hear gunfire and you’re up before noon.”

“You’re awake too!”

“I’m always awake. Turian sleep cycles revolve around Menae, which has a seventy-two hour cycle. It’s evening for me. Anyway, what’s up?”

“My libido, apparently.” Charlie says.

Garrus chokes. Charlie hears Tali mumble “what kind of _bosh’tet_ -“ from beside him.

“Excuse me?”

“Sam stayed over last night and before you ask, no, she’s not listening in. But she’s on the Normandy right now, in my bed, and I have to say something to her when she wakes up, right?”

“Yes, you do. That’s generally what people do, Charlie. They talk. Now if you were a vorcha, I would understand.”

“You’re not helping.”

“You know what normal people _don’t_ do? Leave their significant others alone the morning after. That’s gonna be great to wake up to, Shepard, so get your ass back to the Normandy before she wakes up. You’re overthinking this.”

“EDI said that too- wait, you think she’s _significant_?”

“Don’t you?”

Charlie chews on her lip as she thinks.

Yes, Samantha Traynor is significant. She saved Jack and the Grissom kids, caught key pieces of Alliance data critical to the war effort, and practically rewrote EDI’s communications matrix all on her own. Samantha Traynor has access to more potentially war-causing information than anyone not named Liara T’Soni, and has used it more than once to pull Charlie’s ass out of the fire. Samantha Traynor is the best damn communications specialist in the galaxy.

But she is more.

She is kind. She is perceptive. She took the slow-burning embers of Charlie’s heart into her hands and blew gently, so gently that Charlie didn’t realize she was doing it until the fires were inextinguishable. Sam is gentle and snarky and beautiful. Charlie really, really likes her- and Sam likes her back. They fit. Maybe that’s all she needs to know.

“Whew.” Charlie says, softly. As if she’s come to yet another great epiphany, because in a way she has. “I didn’t even realize-“

“No, because you were too busy saving the galaxy to learn how to live in it. Go get her, Shepard.”

“Hmm.”

“We good here?”

“I sure as hell hope so. But what if-“

She can almost see Garrus rolling his eyes.

“Seriously, Shepard, I’ve met Sam and she’s not the type to string you up for doing something well-intentioned. Just don’t punch her or anything and I think you’re good, okay?”

“Okay, dismissed.”

“Tali says hi.”

“No I don’t.” Tali’s tiny voice grumbles.

“Dismissed, Garrus.” Charlie repeats, and hightails it to the elevator.

 

* * *

 

She doesn’t even _think_ of calling James Vega, so when her omni-tool buzzes and it’s him, she makes sure she isn’t hallucinating before answering.

“ _What_?”

“So I heard that you have lady problems-“

“First of all, never say those words again. Second of all, who the fuck told you?”

“Kaidan let me use his omni-tool last night to call my abuela. Guess I was still patched in.”

“Oh God. Does the whole crew know?”

“Nope, just me. Might want to avoid them for a while though. I may have let it slip that I was advising you on something…personal.”

“Sam’s part of the crew, you numbskull. If she hears from you before me-“

“Relax, Lola, I told them to give you guys space for the next few hours. You’ll get no interruptions in your wooing from me.”

“Good. So explain why you’re delaying me from getting back to her, Vega.”

 “I can help!” James says, enthusiastic. “We hung out the other night when you had the war meeting with Hackett. You know, cracked open a few bottles, played cards, just relaxin’. Cortez and I told her stories about when we served together. She seemed totally interested in hearing about it.”

“What could she possibly find interesting about you two?” Charlie says, a tingle of jealousy spreading in her chest. She’s only seen Sam outside of the “attractive but unobtainable subordinate” perspective for less than 24 hours and she’s already getting possessive. Oh God, it’s happening already. “What did she say?”

“Nothing much except her hypothesis on why Navier-Stokes equations always have smooth solutions when calculated with deference to mass effect fields. You’ll have to ask Esteban about that one. I only remember it because they started talking about turbulence, and I thought it was funny because I was, uh, past wasted by that point.”

“Very helpful, James. Very helpful.”   
“But she told us she’d meet up with us when we go by the Presidium this weekend. They’ve still got tickets if you’re interested.”

“Tickets for what?”

“Omni-con, of course.”

Shepard drums her fingers impatiently against the wall. The elevator stops off at the Presidium. Maybe she _should_ get Sam a gift.

“What’s that?”

James’s gasp of surprise could be mistaken for a scandalized grandmother’s.

“Dios! You’ve never been to Omni-con?  It’s only the first stop for any game that even wants to make it out of production! Shattered Eezo? Galaxy of Fantasy?”

“I’ve been busy, James. You know, securing a krogan-turian alliance, resisting our inevitable invasion by giant space squids, saving billions of lives. Y’know, stuff that didn’t involve _extranet gaming_.”

Grandma James is clutching his pearls in horror.

“No way, Lola, you have to come with us! Sam loves that weird asari-chess game, but she’s also kinda incredible at a shit-ton of others. I went toe-to toe with a krogan at Shattered Eezo yesterday and lost- would have given more to box him for real, but I’ll take what I can get- and she wiped the floor with him.”

“I just want to know what kind of weirdo spends their shore leave playing _Shattered Eezo_. I played Jacob once and I was bored ten seconds in.”

“Well, Sam is one of those ‘weirdos’ so you might as well get used to it.” James says, unperturbed. “Her specialty is Galaxy of Fantasy. She’s got a level 650 Phantom Bladeslinger that kicks me and Esteban’s asses every time.”

“Sam plays Galaxy of Fantasy.” Shepard repeats. Huh. Her maybe-girlfriend plays an extranet game with James and Cortez. And has reached level 650. And is going to a convention for it over the weekend.

Her crew is weird.

“She even wrote a mod for it! Gives your summoned klixen extra damage on all AoE attacks to balance the rachni swarms, and nerfs the Necros because that shit’s way OP.”

Correction: her crew is weird _as hell._

Charlie just picks at a loose string on her hoodie and walks back the way she came, passing the Presidium storefronts on the way. Maybe she could get away with buying Sam a fish. Charlie could offer to take care of it for her, and then invite her up everytime she wanted to see it. It’s an opportunity to add another one for her collection _and_ awesome sex- it’s basically perfect.

“I’m going to pretend I understand what _any_ that means. Look, just tell me what you think she would like.”

“Lola, all I’m saying is that if it’s interesting to Sam, you might want to see if it’s interesting to you too. Shared interests are shared connections.”

“That sounds like the slogan for a dating sim.”

“A damn fine dating sim.”

“Vega….”

“Just have fun with her. She can teach you how to craft sniper rifles online, or something. That’s up your alley, right?”

“Ugh. Goodbye, Vega.”

“Sweep her off her feet, Lola!”

After signing up for a six-month trial period on Galaxy of Fantasy and buying a ticket to the nerd convention, Charlie checks her watch and realizes it’s almost been more than an hour since she’d left the Normandy. It’s time she got back.

 

* * *

 

“Hello?”

“It’s my favorite twin! I’m so proud of you! Go Charlie!”

“John, go away.”

“Kaidan said-“

“ARGH.”

* * *

 

The elevator to D42 is running damn slow. Charlie paces and fidgets and finally decides to re-call Tali, because she’s already bawled to half her crew and Tali can quote whole episodes of Fleet and Flotilla while the theme song plays through the entire engineering deck. There are worse people to ask romance advice from and she’s asked them already, so why not? Tali, unlike Garrus, picks up on the fifth ring.

“You realize Garrus was lying right next to me the whole time, right? I heard you the first time you called.”

“So you’ve had plenty of time to think. Lay it on me.”

“I don’t know her as well as you do. She doesn’t come to engineering much. Unless she needs her comm lines recalibrated or something-“

“Oh God, not you too.”  

“What? What did I say?”

“Never mind.”

There is a sound suspiciously like a pillow being flung across the room.

“Do you like her or not?”

Charlie almost screams.

“Yes!”

“Write that shit on a cake.” Tali says, and hangs up.

 

* * *

 

When Charlie makes it back to the Normandy a few minutes later, she catches Joker walking up the docking stairs with his shirt on backwards. He’s in the middle of a yawn when she grabs him by the arm, so for a second both his eyes and his mouth are wide open. It would be amusing if she were in any mood to enjoy it.

“Wha-“

“Listen, I will give you-“ Charlie paws through the pockets of her hoodie, emptying them out into her palm and transferring it to his. “-one credit chit, three plastic screws, one of Grunt’s varren snacks, and a coupon to Apollo’s if you will take EDI and get the hell off the ship for the next few hours, okay? I need it empty.”

Empty except for Sam, anyway.

Joker looks at all the shit that Charlie’s just dumped in his hands (is that varren snack _moving_?) but he doesn’t budge from the door.

“Charlie- Commander, with all due respect, I’ve been out all night and I really want a shower-“

“These are _very valuable_ plastic screws.’  Charlie presses on, her eyes narrowing when Joker still looks unsure. She doesn’t bargain often (read: _ever_ ), and especially not with her model-ship building supplies, but he doesn’t seem to realize what a boon he’s just been offered and keeps standing there like a stubborn puppy. A stubborn puppy who’s about to be neutered.

And Sam will be awake any minute.

“Okay, fine! I’ll get your pilot’s seat reupholstered in leather, and you can pick the next time we go on shore leave. Anytime you want. Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever. I swear, we won’t stop even if the Reapers attack or we get a lead on any ancient asari writings.”

Joker doesn’t move. Charlie releases a frustrated sigh.

“No elcor mating totems either.”

At that, Joke finally relents, takes Charlie’s money and Charlie’s coupon, and heads down the stairs he’s just come up from. Before he turns the corner, though, he calls back to her.

“Y’know, if you wanted to show Traynor how you feel about her, you’re already doing pretty good.”

“Huh?”

“Well, you basically poured your heart out to the whole crew that you cared about her. Can’t think of much more the girl could want.”

Charlie watches him go as he exits the docking bay.

“Wait, how do _you_ know about that?”

 

* * *

 

“Sam!”

“Commander?”

She must look slightly crazed, her clothing rumpled and her hair mussed from running around the Citadel in the early morning, but Charlie doesn’t care. Sam’s just walked out of her cabin, catching Charlie in the elevator, and she looks gorgeous even in dim light and her hair still floofy from the blowdryer. But she’s also _leaving Charlie’s cabin_ , after all of her efforts to make Sam want to stay there.

Damn it, EDI.

Not acceptable. She’s just made a fool of herself to the entire ship. Sam can’t leave before she has a chance for it to pay off.

Sam looks flustered, finding herself suddenly with an armful of eager Commander, and steadies Charlie back on her feet. Charlie steps back, guides her gently back to her cabin, and is gratified to see Sam follow her inside without prompting. When the door seals behind them, she turns and gets the full force of Sam’s melted chocolate gaze heaped on her, and loses all her thoughts in an instant.

“Charlie?”  Sam repeats.

“Oh fuck, sorry.”  Focus, Charlie. “Shit. I thought you were leaving and I was trying to stop you. I need to tell you something.”

Could you rein in the marine mouth for _two seconds_ while you talk to your girl? Please?

Sam just looks confused.

“Why would I leave? I was just going to get my datapad, I left it charging in the crew’s quarters.” Sam says, running a hand through her hair. “I didn’t realize you were up already, you should have woken me too.”

Charlie shrugs.

“You looked so peaceful this morning, I didn’t want to disturb you. Figured you needed the rest.”

“Commander.” Sam says, and the intent in her eyes is definitely not to play hide and seek. “You’re going to make me blush.”

“You’re even cuter when you’re asleep, impossible as it sounds. Believe me, it was entirely selfish on my part.”

“Okay. Done blushing, now rolling my eyes.” Sam laughs. She braced herself back against Charlie’s desk, and suddenly Charlie’s mouth goes dry.

Sam’s lips look infinitely more kissable when her back is to Charlie’s wall of model ships. Sam and beautiful shiny metal. Together the two of them are like a vision from heaven, all laid out in a banquet in front of her.

“Anyway, what did you want you tell me?”

Charlie takes a deep breath and hopes she doesn’t pass out before Sam at least gets an idea of what she’s saying. Okay. She can do this.

“In my entire life, there are three things I’ve cared about like I care about you. In my entire life, Sam.” Charlie starts.

“Um…okay?”

“Those things are my Normandy squad, Admiral Anderson, and my blood kin.”

“Charlie, I’m really not sure where this is going-“

“And even among my blood kin, it would depend on who they were.”

John? Yes. Her parents? Yes. That one cousin that punched Charlie in the face when she was five? Hell no.

“I’m flattered.” Sam is beginning to smile now, her lips curling upward even as she fights to keep them in a serious line. Charlie breathes a little easier when she sees it, but there’s “I’m-indulging-you-because-I-like-you” smiling and “oh-god-what-an-idiot” smiling, and she is still too nervous to decipher which one Sam is sporting right now.

“My point is, you’re high up on that list of things I care about, Sam, but you could be higher. I want- I want you to be higher, as high as anyone’s ever been. The highest.”

Ok, this could either be Charlie’s grand confession or it could be Charlie’s first time on red sand-either way, she’s ruining it. Sam’s smile has turned slightly terrified, like Charlie’s going to shank her and hide her corpse, and fuck, she’s _ruining_ it.

Charlie takes a step back and almost trips over her own feet. All her words start pouring out of her stupid, stupid mouth before she can stop them.

“I called our friends and they told me I was being a coward and I only want to make you happy, Sam. I know this is wartime and I’m going to be a piss-poor partner because I throw myself at Cerberus troops and giant Reapers and basically anything else that gets in my way, but every mission is a little easier because I know you’ll be waiting for me when I get back. I’m-I’m in this to win it, like you when you beat that bitch at Kapesh-Yakshi, and by the way I got you a new chess set on the Presidium for a ridiculous amount of credits but it doesn’t matter because it’s _real_ , Sam, like your set back home, and like I want us to be. Kaidan laughed at me and EDI almost proposed to me and Joker somehow knew how I felt about you before I pulled my head out of my ass, and I always swore the universe would be a cold dead place before those two knew more about romance than I did, but they were right. All of them. And I’m sorry this is so late and I’m sorry I ran away this morning, but I’m here now? That has to mean somethi-“

Sam surges forward and kisses her.

It just feels like lips on lips for a second, because for some reason Charlie is still trying to talk with Sam’s mouth over hers. Why is she doing that? There are much better uses for her mouth right now.

Like kissing Sam back. Like pulling her closer, hands on her hips, a soft little tongue against Charlie’s lips and the breathless laughter that Sam is trying so, so hard to keep in, but comes out in small puffs as the kiss deepens. _Finally._

Sam tastes like mint and happiness. Her body still blooms with warmth, lingering from the bed, and Charlie burrows deeper into her, wrapping her arms around Sam’s waist and tilting her head to kiss her again. Sam’s hands curl around the back of her neck, hoodie fabric and soft skin in equal measure, and Charlie almost groans out loud.

God, she could kiss Sam for hours.

They finally pause for breath, Sam’s face pressed into the side of Charlie’s neck. They breathe for a second, and she feels rather than sees Sam’s smile.

“Well, that was…unexpected.”

“Sorry. You needed to stop talking.”

“No fair.” Charlie mumbles, pushing her hair back so she can kiss Sam unobstructed, getting it more tangled in the process.  Sam reaches up to help her. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“I wasn’t aware there was a question in…whatever that was. Ask it again, please?”

“Will you- will you stay with me? Be with me?”

Sam curls tighter around her.

“You didn’t have to ask. Of course I will. I care about you, Charlie Shepard.”

Charlie mumbles into her shoulder, voice lost in the thick lustre of her hair. God, Sam’s hair may be Charlie’s fifth-favorite physical part of her body.

“Oh, _thank fuck_.”

Sam bursts out laughing and Charlie can feels a spark of  joy in every cell of her body. She soaks up Sam’s mirth and basks in it.

“Also, I may or may not have ordered a cake with your name on it.”

“What?” Sam says, pulling back to look at her face. Her laugh trails off as she sees Charlie staring back at her, deadly serious. “A cake?”

Charlie nods, guiltily. “I told them to draw a toothbrush too. In blue icing.”

Sam considers the toothbrush cake, then pulls Charlie close once more.

“I think I can look past that.”

Charlie is so happy she may burst into tears. Then she realizes it’s almost been a minute since she’s kissed Sam, and leans down, but her now-confirmed girlfriend pulls away.

“Wait, what’s this about EDI proposing?”

**Author's Note:**

> This pairing makes my imagination go strange places. Thank you for reading, please leave a comment if you feel so inclined!


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